Autonomous Boat Week 6 Update It’s week 6 of Spring Quarter and we’re almost finished with fabrication. We are preparing the boat for a launch by the end of June. We have everyone working on their own respective parts and the categories below best summarize the overall group’s effort. The photo shows this week’s progress made by the mechanical design …
Week 5 Spring – Project X
For subsystem 2 the solenoid valve has been connected to the microcontroller and a transistor to change the state of the valve, the system is changing states; however, the air flow is not being released from the outputs, its believe that is due to the low airflow pressure. The reason for trying the solenoid is to regulate the amount of …
First Official Sponsor: MSC Software
Big thank you to our first official sponsor, MSC Software! MSC Software is a global leader in helping product manufacturers to advance their engineering methods with simulations software and services. With the help of MSC Software, we can optimize the design of our solar car by using their product to test our car’s dynamic capabilities.
Chassis Load Testing
According to regulations, we have to sustain a 5g load in all directions of the chassis. Here are pictures from our latest testing. We are currently experimenting with different pipe sizes to find the best compromise between strength and weight. Our chassis has a mirror feature that we did not anticipate on deviating our results. For the front crash, there …
Week 4 Spring – Project X
Motor can do partial rotation, it can be controlled to release in the step of a wedge which is equivalent to approximately an ounce of food. The motor has been successfully integrated with the power supply, we no longer have overheating issue and the motor is receiving the appropriate current and voltage. We will be using one power supply, it …
Obstacles with the Spectrometer
We cut out ~1.5 inch cube pieces of wood (poplar, rock maple, red oak, red alder, hickory, hem fir, and walnut) to compare their radiating spectral profiles and temperatures when red hot. We lit these pieces on fire, blew out the flame, and used our spectrometer to find the spectral profile. We also had attached a thermocouple to the surface …
Mechanical Assembly Complete
The first design of our solar car is almost complete. After months of hard work, our alpha design of the solar car is beginning to come together. We currently have our spaceframe chassis done and CADed up in Solidworks. The chassis is assembled to the suspension components, which include brakes, steering, and the actual suspension system itself. We decided to …
Mechanical Assembly Complete
The first design of our solar car is almost complete. After months of hard work, our alpha design of the solar car is beginning to come together. We currently have our spaceframe chassis done and CADed up in Solidworks. The chassis is assembled to the suspension components, which include brakes, steering, and the actual suspension system itself. We decided to …
Spring 2017 Week 2&3: Tank Progress and Electrical Components
For the past two weeks, Tim and Alex have been working tirelessly to finish up the tank. We can now fill the tank up with water, as shown in the pictured in this blog. This week, we plan to cut wood for the remaining parts of the tank and nail up the control box and the servo supports. Also, Alex …
Autonomous Boat Week 4 Update
Autonomous Boat Week 4 Update It’s week 4 of Spring Quarter and we are preparing the boat for a launch by the end of June. We have everyone working on their own respective parts and the categories below best summarize the overall group’s effort. The photo shows this week’s progress made by the solidworks team to fully assembly the Mechanical …